A few notes and stats from WSU-Cal

Just going to turn this into an appendix for the piece I wrote at SBNation.com.

1. Connor Halliday threw for 734 yards and seven touchdowns. The yardage is more than seven teams' passing yardage on the season so far

2. Vince Mayle's 263 yards would put him at No. 160 on the receiving yards list for the season. By itself (he's fourth overall, behind Nelson Spruce from Colorado, Amari Cooper from Alabama, and Kevin White from West Virginia)

3. Three receivers cracked 100 yards for the game: Mayle (263), Cracraft (172) and Dom Williams (107). A fourth, Isiah Myers, just missed 100 yards, finishing with 96. Each of those four receivers are in the top-25 for receiving yards on the season in FBS.

4. Connor Halliday dropped back 73 times and was not sacked once. The extra three drop backs are for three scrambles: One for no gain, one for four yards, and a third for an improbable 13-yard pickup.

5. Washington State did not turn the ball over. No interceptions, no fumbles … no nothing (there was one turnover on downs that doesn't count). Halliday threw the ball 70 times and was not intercepted once. Just want to let that sink in.

6. This was Halliday's best performance as a starting quarterback. We can argue that Cal's secondary is a tire fire (don't be mad, Cal fans, you know it's true. And Washington State's is just as bad), but when looking at the yardage, touchdowns and attempts while comparing it to zero interceptions, there's no doubt this was his best game. Halliday could've oops'd his way into at least one interception thanks to the law of averages, yet did not.

7. Why even bother?

The Cougars ran the ball seven more times than Cal, and the only reason that rushing average inched north of three was because of a long run by Wicks and a scramble by Halliday.

At some point during the second quarter I told Jeff that Leach should just run verts at Cal all night while abandoning pretty much everything else because the Bears could not cover the middle of the field. Halliday could've thrown the ball 85 times and it probably would've worked out swimmingly.

8. And then the Cougars ran the ball twice from inside the five with under a minute to go. You can argue that the first run should've been a touchdown and you'd probably be correct. But with one timeout and a passing offense that Cal couldn't stop, Washington State ran the ball twice, called a timeout, and missed the game-winning field goal. The first run was understandable. The second set forced Leach to use the timeout and kick the ball -- a running clock and a pile of bodies leaves you with precious little time to get a play off and finished before the clock hits zero.

9. Yes, they were milking clock at the end. Cal probably could've scored in six seconds if it got the ball back. To get to that point, however, Washington State had to score. With that said...

10. If you're going to be aggressive for 59 minutes, finish the damn drill.

11. This game was so incredibly stupid and would've been way more fun as a win. It was still fun! Just the kind of fun that leads to a head injury and crying.